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Bill Clinton: Hillary has ‘never been satisfied with status quo in anything’
The former president — and prospective first husband — kicked off his prime-time speech by telling the story of meeting Hillary Rodham in 1971 and falling for her.
He said they have been laughing and talking with each other for decades ever since, “in good times and bad, through joy and heartbreak.”
He talked about her work to provide legal aid to those who can’t afford it, improving education and, of course, health care, an issue that she took on during his presidency.
“I can tell you this: If you were sitting where I’m sitting, and you heard what I have heard,” he said referring to their private conversations over dinner, lunch and during walks, “you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything.”
She “always want to move the ball forward. That’s just who she is.”
Trump prebuts Bill Clinton
Short, by Bill standards
It may have started in 1971 and wound through the 45 years since, but his speech was actually short in the annals of Bill Clinton stemwinders.
Madeleine Albright: Trump has ‘strange admiration for dictators’
The former secretary of State hailed Clinton’s “cool head” and “steady hand” that she displayed in the same post and attacked Trump by saying he has a “strange admiration for dictators.”
Albright said he gave Vladimir Putin an “A” on leadership and electing Trump and said “a Trump victory in November would be a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
“Putin is eager to see Trump win, and that should worry every American,” she said.
Clinton, on the other hand, understands the presidency is “not like hosting a TV reality show. It is a complex, round-the-clock job.”
Howard Dean reprises the scream
The former Vermont governor good-naturedly reprised the infamous scream that ended his own White House hopes in 2004.
The only thing missing was some of the air-punching gusto and spittle of the original.
Mothers deliver moving endorsement
The Mothers of the Movement, a group of black mothers who lost children to gun violence, some at the hands of police, delivered a moving tribute to their children and an enthusiastic endorsement of Clinton.
“This isn’t about being politically correct. It’s about saving our children,” said Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin.
Geneva Reed-Veal described watching her daughter Sandra Bland being lowered in a coffin into her grave after she died in a Texas jail last year. Lucia McBath, whose son was shot because he was playing loud music in 2012, said her job as his mother hasn’t ended, even if his life did.
“I lived in fear my son would die like this,” she said. “I even warned him that because he was a young, black man, he would meet people who didn’t value him or his life.”
McBath said Clinton “isn’t afraid to say Black Lives Matter.”
“We’re also going to keep using our voices and our votes to support leaders like Hillary Clinton, who will help us protect one another so this club of heartbroken mothers stops growing,” she said.
Their remarks were preceded by former attorney general Eric Holder, who said it’s important to adequately train and equip police officers, and he asserted that supporting them in their efforts is not inconsistent with ensuring they treat Americans with dignity and respect.
Holder also got in a dig on Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” slogan, saying the country is already great.
“Donald, did you hear me? I said already great nation,” he said.
Protests heated outside
Our Natalie DiBlasio was there:
The stars were out
While the Republican convention last week featured a number of B and even D-list stars (See Scott Baio, Chachi on Happy Days), the Democrats trotted out a slate of (significantly) hipper celebs.
Tuesday’s program alone featured actors Elizabeth Banks, America Ferrera, Lena Dunham, Debra Messing and Meryl Streep.
Actor Tony Goldwyn (President Fitzgerald Grant III in Scandal) and Erika Alexander also spoke, and Andra Day and Alicia Keys performed.
A bunch also participated in what may be the cheesiest thing ever.
The real Bernie Bro is the best
Larry Sanders, who lives in England, broke down when he casts his vote for brother Bernie Sanders.
The other must-see roll call moment …
Born before women had the right to vote, 102-year-old Jerry Emmett took to the microphone to cast 51 votes from Arizona for the first female nominee for president.
Glass ceiling, broken
It finally became official. Hillary Clinton is the first woman nominated by a major party for the presidency of the United States.
Still, more #BernieBoos
After the roll call vote, Sanders loyalists staged a protest, via CNN’s MJ Lee:
Earlier in the day, Sanders made the rounds of state delegation breakfasts as he continued to trying to quash dissent among his supporters who are feeling the Bern too much to switch loyalties to Clinton.
In the California event, he was met by boos, and a dozen Bernie loyalists launched into loud chanting when a Clinton surrogate was speaking and several rushed the stage with signs trying to block cameras, The New York Timesreports.
Things also got hairy during the Texas delegation breakfast, when Clinton surrogates were on stage and one delegate, Russell Lytle, let lose. The Texas Tribune was there:
“ ‘We want to be clear,’ Lytle said. ‘We are currently condemning our current presumptive nominee.’
“That touched off an angry reaction from some in the crowd, sparking loud boos and bringing Clinton backers to their feet. One of the people who rose pointed his finger at the stage.
” ‘Stop this nonsense!’ he said. ‘You need to grow up!’ “
Lytle actually ended up turning in his convention credentials amid the backlash today, with Texas Democrats issuing a statement from him dismissing his outburst as “a moment of passion … that did not reflect my intention of promoting productive dialogue.”
Interim DNC chairwoman: This is hard
Donna Brazile shifted into the interim chairwoman’s seat amid the party’s shakeup following the WikiLeaks release over the weekend of more than 19,000 DNC emails showing some party officials had favored Clinton all along and plotted to undermine Sanders. She is one of three black women now running things this week. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, is serving as convention chairman, and the Rev. Leah Daughtry, a Washington D.C., pastor, is the convention’s CEO.
On the streets, earlier in the day …
Twitter roasts Michel-lania
In the wake of Michelle Obama’s speech endorsing Clinton, Twitter of course lit up to tie it to plagiarism of her 2008 convention speech by Melania Trump last week.
Rep. Alan Grayson, call your office
The Florida Democrat who is vying to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was not handling accusations of domestic abuse very well Tuesday.
Politico reported that over two decades his now ex-wife “called police on her husband at least two times in Virginia and two more times in Florida, sought medical attention on at least two occasions and said that, in one instance, he had threatened to kill her, according to a police report.”
The revelation led the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America to yank their endorsements of Grayson, via the Tampa Bay Times.
” ‘After today’s revelations of years of police reports about allegations of domestic abuse involving Alan Grayson, we are no longer willing to support and are formally withdrawing our endorsement of him in the race for U.S. Senate,’ leaders with PCCC and DFA said in a joint statement.”
But when Politico tried to question Grayson about the whole mess, he reacted angrily and threatened to have the reporter arrested. Maybe not the right reaction to demonstrate he is not quick to anger, perhaps in a domestic situation.
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